Khalif Battle drops 18 off the bench to lead Temple past East Carolina, 59-57

In its first game without guard Damian Dunn, Temple won at East Carolina, 59-57, on Wednesday night.

The Owls swept the Pirates last season behind Dunn’s 59 total points. Dunn, who grew up about 30 miles away from ECU in Kinston, N.C., missed Wednesday night’s game with a head injury.

For the first time since the Nov. 18 win against Rutgers at the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase, leading scorer Khalif Battle came off the bench for Temple. Battle led all scorers with 18 points, entering Wednesday’s game making just 14 of his last 45 shots, including six of his last 27 from three. Battle announced the passing of his grandmother via Twitter on Christmas Eve.

Transfer guard Shane Dezonie scored his first points since a Nov. 22 loss to Richmond in the third-place game of the Empire Classic.

Battle paced the Owls on 6-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-8 from three.

ECU forward Brandon Johnson dominated the glass with 18 rebounds, including seven offensive. Johnson also scored 11 points for the Pirates and led them in assists with four.

Pirates guard Jaden Walker, who also added 11 points, had a career-high six steals.

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Temple (7-7, 1-0 AAC) entered Wednesday’s game on a three-game losing streak shooting 40% from the floor, including 26.5% from three. Without Dunn, a team that already was struggling to efficiently score, found it even more difficult as the Owls shot 36% from the floor, including 27% from three.

However, the Owls were able to ride their defense to victory. Coach Aaron McKie has always emphasized defense and ball movement, which worked against ECU. The Owls held ECU (9-5, 0-1 AAC) to 27% shooting, including 24% from three.

ECU went into the half with a 23-22 lead thanks to an 8-0 run over the final minute. The run was topped off by a buzzer-beating half-court shot from guard Jaden Walker after he stole the ball from Battle. Before that run, ECU hadn’t made a field goal in the previous 9 minutes, 36 seconds.

Temple held the lead for most of the first half, holding ECU’s top three scorers to a combined seven points on 2-of-13 shooting.

With 13:54 left in the second half, ECU called a timeout after a three-pointer from Battle put Temple up, 34-28. The Pirates hadn’t scored and turned the ball over three times in the 2:56 before that point, leading to Temple’s 8-0 run.

Sophomore point guard Hysier Miller fouled out with 1:31 left in the game.

Temple will play its first home conference game on New Year’s Day against Cincinnati (3 p.m., ESPN). The Owls beat the Bearcats (9-4) twice last season.